1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a karaoke system consisting of a host apparatus and a plurality of remote terminal apparatuses connected thereto via a communication network, specifically relates to a karaoke system providing new services to the customers utilizing network technologies.
2. Description of the Related Art
One of prevalent karaoke systems includes a host apparatus and a plurality of remote terminal apparatuses connected thereto via a communication network. This type of karaoke system is generally referred to as a "communication karaoke system". In the communication karaoke system, each of the remote terminal apparatuses stores karaoke data transmitted from the host apparatus. The stored karaoke data in the remote terminal apparatus is able to be played on demand. When a customer chooses a favorite karaoke music piece using such a device as a remote control of the terminal apparatus, the karaoke accompaniment for the selected tune is played by speakers and character strings of the lyrics of the tune is displayed on a CRT display in synchronism with the karaoke music. Timing marks for instructing a singer when to sing are also displayed with the character strings of the lyrics. Moving or still images are superimposed in the background of the displayed lyrics, which may go along with the karaoke music. Various services have been developed and applied to standalone karaoke players as well as the communication karaoke system. However, most of the services are directly related to convenience in singing of customers.
The communication karaoke system is a large-scale computer network including a host computer and a number of remote terminal apparatuses arranged nationwide communicating with the host computer via a communication network, in other words, a multimedia system handling various digital audio and image information, including moving pictures. Advanced functions and new usage using network resources of the communication karaoke system are now being extensively studied and developed.